I was waiting until today to write this post. On Friday I went to catch Lee Fields and The Expressions at the Bowery Ballroom. My intent was to hold fire until today before really writing anything about the gig, as it would afford me the opportunity to also build in a piece about Plan B. […]
Category: James Poole
Terry Christian is an unlikely source for genuine insight. He’s more Manc than an Arndale Centre full of parka-wearing monkey boys. To be fair, he has pretty much crafted a career out of being a professional Mancunian. From fronting 90s Channel 4 pop-culture totem ‘The Word’, through to radio and journalism, Manchester is writ large […]
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Lebanese Blonde
This is why I love BBC 6 Music. It’s not just because they will play William DeVaughn’s ‘Be Thankful For What You’ve Got’ followed by Shack’s sublime ‘Comedy’ and ‘Hallelujah’ by the Happy Mondays (three songs played in succession over Christmas which convinced me that the station takes its playlist from my record collection). It’s […]
There’s some music that’s just good – but about as cool as sandals with socks. At the freethinking movement, we’re proud to call out the music which we like, regardless of whether it’s cool or not. A great example: Japan. Since kicking off freethinking nyc last year, Japan have featured on a regular basis. ‘Gentlemen […]
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Build a rocket boys!
It seems appropriate to dedicate my first post of 2011 to the material that I’m most excited to hear this year. We’ve got a few months to wait for the full glory of ‘Build a Rocket Boys!’, but I’m just going to put this out there now: based on the first track to be unleashed […]
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2010: Top Ten Albums
So that’s 2010, then. A year of staggering comebacks, of fine funk, and of exciting new music. Sitting here on a flight back to NYC after a Christmas break in the UK, it’s probably as good a time as any to fully reflect on the year, and to take the time to acknowledge the albums […]
Let’s not forget James Brown. It’s Christmas. My last post referenced some deep, hard, dirty funk. The tenuous Christmas connection being that I received said funk as a gift from my brother last year. In light of this, I thought it only fitting that I should share some proper Christmas funk from the Godfather himself. […]
My last post was brought on by Christmas shopping. When it comes to Christmas, and this has been the case for many, many years now, my oldest brother and I have an unwritten rule. I suppose I am about to break the ‘unwritten’ part of that now, but here goes: ‘buy some music that you […]
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I blame my brother
Music played a huge part of my childhood. I bought my first record at a ridiculously early age. At four, I can’t claim that the money that I handed over for ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’ by The Boomtown Rats was really earned. But, the money was there, and I distinctly remember handing it over in […]
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Joel Van Dijk: Truthseeker
Backing bands rarely get the limelight. There are exceptions, of course. Like The Headhunters, stepping out of the shadows cast behind Herbie Hancock, and unleashing expansive jazz-funk on the world. But there are also those bands that just stay in the background, laying down the tracks while the front person takes the glory. Consider, if […]
I buy a lot of music. I really do mean a lot. At time this can mean that I’ve got a stack of music that I just haven’t got around to listening to yet. Delights just sitting there, on my dining room table, waiting for me to check them out. I finally got around to […]
‘It’s my daughters 10th birthday today. She’s the most beautiful person in the world. Are there any daughters in here tonight? Your dad thinks exactly the same about you. Even if you’re minging.’ Once more, Badly Drawn Boy arrives in New York to baffle the audience with Mancunian wit. Last night I caught the second […]